Monday, January 23, 2017

The Walking Dead Compemdium 1

In a world ruled by the dead, we are forced to finally start living. With The Walking Dead #1-48, this compendium features more than one thousand pages chronicling the start of Robert Kirkman's Eisner Award-winning story of zombie horror, from Rick Grimes waking up alone in a hospital, his band of survivors seeking refuge on an isolated farm and the controversial introduction of Woodbury despot, The Governor.

I, like almost everyone else, watched the show The Walking Dead prior to picking up the comics. I did keep checking them out from the library but since they came in the compendiums I just never had the time to read them before they were due back. So finally I went ahead and borrowed all 3 compendiums from my aunt. I LOVED THIS BOOK. I didn't expect to love the comics as much as I do. They are similar to the show but different enough to still feel like I'm reading something different. I was really afraid of spoilers for the show. Now.. I'll admit that right now I am caught up on the comics up to the point of the TV show and I'm a little nervous about continuing. I'm pretty confident I won't be spoiled so I'm going to go ahead and read on.

I think the artwork of these comics help the feelings of horror and creepiness. When I first started reading I wasn't sure about the black and white art. I thought.. how am I even going to get the horror from it when I can't see the blood color. The artist (Tony Moore) does such a fantastic job that color is not needed. I think that is a huge feet for an artist.

In case you don't know much about this series I'll try to explain it a little bit. The comic starts off with Officer Rick Grimes waking up from a coma in the hospital. He is all alone. When he gets up and walks around he discovers there are other things... or what we call "Zombies". Rick begins to go out into the world to find his wife and son. On his way looking he meets a lot of different people and his epic story begins.

What I find most interesting about these books is character study. This book of course reminds me of any book where the world flips on it's head. Stephen King's The Stand is similar. What would people do if they only lived to survive. Would they kill? Would they die? The end of the world brings out the best and the worst of people it would seem. I like to read about the ideas characters come up with and ponder if I would've come up with the same plan or not. In this particular compendium the group that Rick Grimes forms run into a huge prison. They decide that it might be a good place to hold up. There are 3 prisoners there that they decide to let go but then can't decide if they are trust worthy. Would this be a good idea? There is a generator at the prison. Beds, food. Seems like a good idea to me but of course it has it's drawbacks which we find out when reading. Things I would've never thought could happen.

I really do think Walking Dead is a fantastic story. For those who don't like the show because of the gore, perhaps pick up the graphic novels and experience the story in a totally different way.